He said the mining industry was the country's biggest employer of Indigenous people, and more than half of those workers were truck drivers.

"That pathway into the mining industry will get narrower and eventually close off," Professor Brereton said.

The chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, Michael Roche, said scholarships and other industry initiatives gave Indigenous people the chance to skill up for the new jobs automation would create.

“The need to remain globally competitive will drive automation as a means of increasing productivity on our mine sites,” he said.

“While this might mean fewer entry level positions, it also means that we will need more people in those highly technical and well paid occupations.”